Salvation
[Red Stream]

As soon as the first song begins, you know you are in for a very long ride.

Immediately I felt that I knew exactly where the band was going with their music, and unfortunately, I was right. They did everything in their power to keep the sound of classic black metal–forged in the coldest winds of the highest, most snow-covered mountain. Basically what that means, is that every song must have a constant supply of blast beats throughout the entire album, the guitars must be distorted beyond audible recognition, and the band must use samples of preachers ripped from B-rate horror movies. Funeral Mist fall short in none of the above categories, which is why this album was almost impossible to listen to.

The production is decent at best, the guitars are much too distorted, the drums are entirely too loud, and the vocals are clipping in a lot of parts. Every song is accompanied by non-stop blast beats on the snare, and just as soon as you think the band is going to do something exciting and different, they jump right back into blast beats drowning out the guitars which are too distorted to hear anyway. Although the album is essentially typical black metal, it does have its moments. One of which is when it cuts into a bad recording of people singing an assumably Christian piece of music during the song “Sun of Hope.” But just as soon as that is over, it jumps right into “Perdition’s Light,” going again into blast beats and muddled guitars.

Overall, this was a disappointment. The hour I spent listening to Salvation, I could have spent better doing taxes, reading a book, or getting a vital organ removed. Instead, I subjected myself to a typically unoriginal black metal band who sound no different than many other black metal bands I’ve heard. Again, this album does have its good moments, but those moments aren’t good enough to subject myself to a second listening.